page_title: June Uprising in Lithuania
section_title: Independence and Provisional Government
hierarchical_section_title: June Uprising in Lithuania / Independence and Provisional Government
caption_attribution_description: English: Participants of the last session of the Provisional Government of Lithuania, who signed a protest for the Germans actions of suspending the Lithuanian government powers. Lietuvių: Laikinosios Vyriausybės kolektyvas, pasirašęs rugpiūčio 5 dienos protestą dėl L. Vyriausybės nušalinimo.
context_page_description: The June Uprising was a brief period in the history of Lithuania between the first Soviet occupation and the Nazi occupation in late June 1941. Approximately one year earlier, on June 15, 1940, the Red Army invaded Lithuania and the unpopular Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was soon established. Political repression and terror were used to silence its critics and suppress any resistance. When Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, a diverse segment of the Lithuanian population rose up against the Soviet regime, declared renewed independence, and formed the short-lived Provisional Government. Two large Lithuanian cities, Kaunas and Vilnius, fell into the hands of the rebels before the arrival of the Wehrmacht. Within a week, the German Army took control of the whole of Lithuania. The Lithuanians greeted the Germans as liberators from the repressive Soviet rule and hoped that the Germans would re-establish their independence or at least allow some degree of autonomy. No such support came from the Nazis, who steadily replaced Lithuanian institutions with their own administration. The Reichskommissariat Ostland was established at the end of July 1941.
context_section_description: On June 23, 1941 at 9:28 AM Tautiška giesmė, the national anthem of Lithuania, was played on the radio in Kaunas. Many people listened to the Lithuanian national anthem then with tears in their eyes. LAF member Leonas Prapuolenis read independence declaration Atstatoma laisva Lietuva (Free Lithuania is Restored) –  "Young Lithuania with enthusiasm promises to add up to the Europe organization on the new bases. Lithuanian nation horribly tortured by bolshevik's terror braces creating its future on the ethnic unity and social justice". Prapuolenis announced the members of the Provisional Government and also asked the people to guard public and private property, the workers to organize protection of factories, public institutions, and other important objects, and policemen to patrol their territories preserving the general public order. The message was repeated several times in Lithuanian, German, and French.
  The first meeting of the Provisional Government took place on June 24. LAF activist Juozas Ambrazevičius replaced Kazys Škirpa, who was under house arrest in Berlin, as the Prime Minister. The new government attempted to take full control of the country, establish the proclaimed independence, and start a de-sovietization campaign. During its six-week existence over 100 laws, some prepared in advance, were issued, dealing with de-nationalization of land, enterprises, and real estate, restoration of local administrative units, formation of police, and other issues. The government did not have power in the Vilnius Region, under control of a different army group. Hoping to survive the government cooperated fully with the Nazi authorities.
  The Provisional Government of Lithuania strongly opposed the Holocaust carried out by the Nazis and its main goal was to protect the citizens and declare the Independence of Lithuania. It also tried to rescue the situation and protest, the meant Lithuanian Minister of National Defence General Stasys Raštikis (former Commander of the Lithuanian Army) even met personally with the Nazi Germany Generals to discuss the situation. He approached the Kaunas War Field Commandant General Oswald Pohl and the Military Command Representative General Karl von Roques by trying to plead the Jews, however they replied that the Gestapo is handling these issues and that they cannot help. Furthermore, in the beginning of the occupation, Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of Lithuania Juozas Ambrazevičius convened the meeting in which the ministers participated together with the former President Kazys Grinius, Bishop Vincentas Brizgys and others. During the meeting, the Nazis were condemned for their actions with Jews and it was decided to help them. Although, the participants of the meeting understood that the help will be very limited, because already in the beginning of the Nazi occupation it was announced that the Jews are crossed out from the competence of Lithuanian institutions.
  The Germans did not recognize the new government, but also did not take any actions to dissolve it by force (unlike the government of Stepan Bandera in Ukraine). At first German military administration tolerated activities of the government as it did not attempt to take control of civilian institutions. The Reichskommissariat Ostland, German Civil Administration (Zivilverwaltung) was established on July 17. Instead of using brute force, the Civil Administration slowly removed the government's powers (for example, did not allow to print its decrees in newspapers or broadcast radio announcements) and supplanted its institutions, forcing the Provisional Government to either self-disband or to become a puppet institution. Willing to cooperate if that meant recognition and some semblance to autonomy, the government did not agree to become an instrument of German occupation. The government self-disbanded on August 5 after signing a protest for the Germans actions of suspending the Lithuanian government powers. Members of the Provisional Government then in corpore went to the Garden of the Vytautas the Great War Museum, wher
caption: Participants of the last session of the Provisional Government of Lithuania, who signed a protest for the Germans actions of suspending the Lithuanian Government powers
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